Lifestyle self-audit part 3

Relationships:

Relationship with your significant other.

We all want to be loved but sometimes we mess up our relationships with the people we love the most. We get our priorities out of alignment. We take each other for granted and wake up to a different reality than the one we thought we were living.

How’s your relationship going with your significant other?

Are you spending quality time together?

Are you fighting or arguing?

Are you on good speaking terms or giving each other the silent treatment?

Are you being abused physically, emotionally or mentally? Are you the one doing the abusing?

If you’re away from home a lot, how are you keeping the flame alive?

Do you know what’s going on in your partner’s life?

They might be tough questions but it’s tough trying to be productive at work when you’re living with relationship stress.

What overall rating would you give the relationship with your current significant other:

Good

Bad, or

Indifferent?

Only you know the answer to that question but you need to be honest with yourself. It’s easy to delude yourself that things are better than they are.

If you identify issues, remember that there is plenty of professional help available if you want it. If it’s really bad, maybe you need to consider whether you want to stay in the relationship.

Relationships with your children.

How much time are you spending with your children?

Do you know what’s going on in their lives?

This is not an area you can afford to let slide. Don’t kid yourself that you’re doing it all for them if they never see you. They won’t thank you. They want your presence more than anything else you can provide.

Analysing your data.

Are there things you could work on with your partner to improve your relationship? Are there behaviours you need to change? Do you need to ask for help or can work it out with your partner? What about with your children?

No significant other.

If your relationship stress comes from not having a significant other in your life, take a look at your time log.

What’s your current focus?

Is there room in your life for a partner at the moment?

Do you want to make room?

What stories are you telling yourself about relationships?

Analysing your data.

If you’re blocking what you tell yourself you want, by not being available for a relationship to develop, consider making time in your life for a partner.

If you’re telling yourself that you’re not good enough or that you’ll never find someone to love you, it might be time to change your story.

If you want to do something about attracting someone into your life, I suggest you start by reading Calling in the One by Katherine Woodward Thomas.

Family responsibilities.

Do you have any specific family responsibilities that impact on your workplace productivity?

For example:

If you have young children, do you look after them when they’re sick or on school holidays?

Do you have a partner with a chronic illness or other health issues?

Do you have a role in caring for elderly parents?

Analysing your data.

The point in identifying your responsibilities is to consider whether you have a plan in place to deal with things like medical emergencies or carer responsibilities, or not. For example; do you share the responsibilities with your partner? Or your siblings? Have you looked at working from home as a viable option when you can’t make it into to work?

Now that you’ve completed a Lifestyle Self-Audit, it’s time to consider an action plan to address the issues you identified.

This is a draft of material that will eventually appear in Everyday Productivity, the next title in my Everyday Business Skills books. Please feel free to offer feedback in the comments.